


Had to be You

by desticockles



Category: Supernatural
Genre: AO3 1 Million, Alternate Universe - High School, Fluff, M/M, Mild Language, Valentine's Day, i can never keep swears out of my works, not even sorry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-13
Updated: 2014-02-13
Packaged: 2018-01-12 01:49:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,645
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1180484
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/desticockles/pseuds/desticockles
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Valentine's day is the worst, and Castiel is alone and standing in the shadows at the stupid school dance, hating life. But an unexpected conversation turns it all around.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Had to be You

**Author's Note:**

> I am so lonely…  
> So here is a cute little (crappy) one shot Valentine's thing-a-jig for all the other lonely shippers this Valentine's day.

Castiel hates school dances. He always has. He wouldn’t even be at one right now if it weren’t for his family and their never ending fighting. He needed to get out of the house, and this is where he ended up. So, here he is, leaning against the wall, hiding in the shadows while other people dance. It doesn’t make it any better that it’s also Valentines day.

Castiel hates Valentines day. He didn’t always hate it, because when he was little he got candy regardless of if anyone liked him or not. He would thank the public school system for that if it weren’t for the fact that nearly every other aspect of being in elementary school tainted his memories entirely. School has always sucked for Castiel. Now, combine a shitty school life, a shitty home life, a lonely valentines day, and a school dance, what do you have? You have Castiel sulking in the corner with a stupid pink construction paper heart taped to the wall above his head of mused up hair.

Castiel hates Valentines dances more than anything. He never hated them before, but that’s only because he’d never even been to one before tonight. To make the experience worse, he has to watch his crush dance with some pretty red-head girl he’s never talked to before. _Leave it to Dean Winchester to fuck up someone’s night_ , Castiel thinks, his mind in a cynical haze. 

Castiel wants to stop watching them, stop torturing himself, but he just _can’t_ do it. And he is kind of angry because the red-head keeps casting glances his way and whispering things to Dean. Okay, he’s not angry, per say; more accurately, he is worried about what that girl is saying. Most likely it’s something rude about his sexuality. He wouldn’t be surprised in the least if that were the case, because it seemed that was the only thing anyone ever mentioned when talking about him, and it was never in a friendly way.

The music switches to a fast paced pop-something-or-other song, and Castiel tries - and fails - not to laugh at the disgusted look Dean shoots the DJ. The girl catches him smiling to himself and whispers something to Dean again. Castiel feels his face heat up a little as she jerks her head in his direction, whispers something while looking directly at him, a mischievous look on her face.

He can’t sit here like this, paranoid that Dean will find out he has been watching them the whole night so far, and pushes away from the wall hurriedly, stalks over to the little concession table to buy a water. The girl - Meg? - looks him up and down with a devious sparkle in her eye, which makes him a little uncomfortable. So, maybe he dressed up a little for the dance, but he was just feeling hopeful earlier. He might have thought something of Meg’s hungry eyes if it weren’t for the fact that he is so hopeless, waiting and just hoping for Dean to notice him, that he doesn’t quite catch what that look in her eyes _is_ exactly.

He leaves before Meg can say anything to him and returns to his spot against the wall. As he lifts the bottle to his lips, the red-head smirks and smacks Dean on the arm before practically skipping over to stand in front of him. Castiel swallows the water and raises a brow at her, slightly frustrated. He doesn’t want to talk to some random girl Dean’s with. He kind of hates her before she has even said a word to him.

“Hi, I’m Charlie,” she says excitedly. Castiel frowns and screws the cap back on his water, lips pursed.

“Castiel.”

“Hey, yeah, I know. Um… Can I ask you something?” She looks slightly nervous, which in turn makes Castiel’s stomach twist up in fear of what she might ask. He nods, almost hesitantly, and she smiles awkwardly before continuing. “Okay. So… You like Dean, don’t you?”

“What?” Castiel heard her perfectly clear. He just doesn’t want to answer.

“I asked if you like Dean.” She pauses, but blurts out, “and don’t you dare tell me ‘as a friend, yes’ because we both know that’s not what I mean. And you barely ever talk to him so you can’t _really_ be friends...” she rambles on, and Castiel shakes his head and cuts her off.

“Why should I tell _you_?” She quirks a brow at his response, seeming slightly amused.

“Good point. But seriously… I’m just curious. You know, I probably shouldn’t tell you this,” she lowers her voice and leans closer, “but he talks about you _a lot,_ and I think _he_ might like _you_.”

Castiel feels his heart beat stutter at the thought of it. Oh, how he wishes that could be true. He looks past Charlie to see Dean standing awkwardly a decent distance away. They meet eyes, and for a moment that’s all there is anymore; a pair of green eyes holding all of Castiel’s hopes within. Then Dean looks away, seeming uninterested - or embarrassed, Castiel isn’t good at reading people - and Castiel sighs, looking back to Charlie who is smirking in a way that makes Castiel feel like she’s got some crazy plan brewing in her head.

“Do you realize that you were just _spacing out_ for a full thirty seconds?” She asks, putting stress on ‘spacing out’ to imply that she knows he wasn’t really.

“And your point is?” Castiel retorts, narrowing his eyes at her. He is surprised to hear it had been that long, though, because it seemed like two seconds to him. He instinctively wants to pull the sleeves of his shirt over his hands, a nervous gesture he’d picked up at some point, but doesn’t want to go through the trouble of unrolling the sleeves he worked so hard to keep just right. It seems such a trivial thing to be worrying about, but it takes his mind off of the interrogation he is facing outside of his head.

“Okay, fine, no more messing around. What’s going to happen is I am going to walk away from you and go dance with the big green-eyed oaf over there. The next song that comes on, I want you to come cut in.” Castiel furrows his brow, not understanding why she is asking this of him, and she rolls her eyes, “I know what you’re thinking. One, I’m not his girlfriend, I don’t swing that way. Two, ew. And three, just trust me, alright, mister _dreamy_?”

Castiel feels like he must be imagining this. There is no way she is telling the truth, is there? He can’t help but feel relieved at knowing they aren’t dating, though, and he huffs out a breath because he feels so stupid for thinking that they _were_. Now that his jealousy has cleared away, he can see pretty clearly from the way Charlie takes a moment to check out a dark haired girl that passes by that she is indeed _not_ straight. He almost laughs at himself for ever thinking she was, but he thinks that would be rude for more than one reason.

“Okay...?” Castiel finally answers, uncertain still about her absurd plan. She grins and slaps him on the shoulder, squealing quietly before she hurries back to Dean and ushers him over to dance at the edge of the crowd. Castiel stands there, back pressed against the wall, with his heart hammering in his chest. Is he really going to do this? What reason does he have to trust Charlie? Yet he wants nothing more than to do just that. So he stands there in a daze, waiting for the music to change, steadying his breathing.

In the time it takes for the pop song to end, Castiel convinces himself that he can do this, that he has the courage. He has been waiting for a moment like this one ever since Dean moved into town, which Castiel now realizes probably sounds creepy. The song is coming to a close and he feels his heartbeat thumping heavy in his chest with his nervousness, and Charlie is looking at him expectantly with one eyebrow slightly raised. He takes a deep breath and tells himself that it will work out, and even if it doesn’t he promises himself now that he will not let it bother him. The last few seconds of the song play as he starts walking over to where Dean and Charlie are standing off to the side of the gym, and he is only five feet away when the DJ announces that it’s time for a slow song.

He halts, stock still in the middle of the room as couples pull each other close and prepare for the smooth, slow music that starts playing. _Of course_ , Castiel thinks, taking a deep breath to calm himself when he recognizes the song. Frank Sinatra, he should have expected as much, but “It Had to be You”? _How cliché…_

Now Charlie is laughing quietly as Dean takes the lead and starts to sway with her. She looks at Castiel over Dean’s shoulder, giving him a pointed look, and he shakes his head, feels his eyes widen with sudden panic. She tilts her head a little and practically glares at him, though she isn’t very intimidating, and Castiel realizes she is probably right. He doesn’t know exactly what her motives are, but he does know that this may well be his only chance to do this. So he takes a few steps closer, trying to ignore the hurricane of butterflies in his stomach, plasters on a smirk, and taps on Charlie’s shoulder. She turns to him with a devious grin, and out of the corner of his eye, Castiel can see Dean tense up next to him.

“May I?” Castiel asks, and Charlie nods with a smile. When Castiel turns to look at Dean he sees a flicker of something that looks almost like disappointment cross his face, and he can’t possibly understand why. Then what Charlie had said to him comes back, _he talks about you a lot, and I think he might like you._ But the idea is shoved aside quickly when Dean steps aside and gestures with his hands as if to say ‘ _she’s all yours_ ’ and Castiel feels his heart sink. Castiel realizes, belatedly, that he may have done that the wrong way around… Maybe he was supposed to tap Dean’s shoulder, not Charlie’s. It seems stupid to worry about that, now, so he shoves that aside as well. He doesn’t allow himself time to think before taking one of Dean’s outstretched hands in his own and looking at him with eyebrows raised, nods towards him.

“Wait… you mean me?” Dean asks, eyes widening. Castiel nods, not sure that he would be able to actually form a complete sentence right now. “Shit… Charlie, what did y-” Dean turns to where Charlie had been standing and stops when he sees that she has walked away. Castiel can’t help but smile at how utterly clueless Dean looks.

Dean doesn’t move, just stares at their hands, and the song is half over already but Castiel doesn’t want to miss this opportunity. He places a hand on Dean’s waist, and revels in the warm tingle where his hand is touching him. He looks into Dean’s eyes, sees that he looks genuinely surprised, and wonders if that is good or bad. Dean shakes his head, then, and takes Castiel’s hand off of his waist. Castiel swears he can feel his heart breaking, and he knows that if Dean was looking for it he would be able to see it in his face.

“I’m no girl, Cas.” Dean says, and places Castiel’s hands on his shoulders, dropping his own down to rest on Castiel’s waist. He can’t help but to sigh, and when he sees Dean smiling down at him he smiles back abashedly. It seems so surreal; he’s standing here with Dean, while Frank Sinatra is serenading them. For a moment they don’t even move, just stand there, lost in each other’s eyes. Dean takes the lead and starts them swaying slowly and the song slowly fades out. By now Castiel can hardly breathe and he isn’t quite sure which way is up.

What happens now? Castiel feels a spot of dread, a heavy weight in his stomach, for the moment when Dean will shove him away and their time together will be over. Even though he knows that it’s just his cynical mind getting him worked up, it’s a moment he is horribly unprepared for if it does happen. There is a moment of quiet between songs, only the shuffling of feet and hushed conversations filling the silence, and then another slow song he doesn’t recognize is playing.

Castiel closes his eyes and waits, but even after what feels like minutes but certainly are only seconds, Dean hasn’t moved his hands away. When Castiel peers up at him he is staring back at him with a small smile, still swaying them slowly, and Castiel’s heart picks up its pace once more.

“Just so you know,” Dean starts, pauses to lick his lips, searching Castiel’s face for a moment, “I was kinda’ hoping you’d come over here.”

“Oh…” Castiel breathes out, stunned by this sudden confession.

“Yeah,” Dean says with a quiet laugh, and reaches up to smooth a hand over Castiel’s blue tie. He smirks, “nice tie. You should wear stuff like this more often.”

“Thank you.” Castiel doesn’t know what more to say; it’s so random, so irrelevant, but Dean is so focused on the silky blue fabric under his fingers and he seems to really mean it. Castiel’s heart is thrumming beneath Dean’s hand, and he hopes it isn’t too obvious.

Dean smiles a bit sheepishly and reaches up to scrub at the back of his neck. He takes a deep breath and looks up at Castiel, a slight flush of pink dusting his freckled cheeks, and he asks, “Hey, uh, Cas… Um… Will you be my valentine?”

“Are you messing with me?” Castiel narrows his eyes, doubtful of Dean, whose expression morphs from a nervous smile into a dejected frown.

“No. Why would… I wouldn’t do that. Promise.”

“Then yes.” Castiel wraps his arms around Dean’s neck to bring them closer, not caring that there will undoubtably be people staring. He doesn’t care because he has been waiting for this moment for what feels like an eternity. “Yes, Dean.”

“Awesome.” Dean grins, pressing their foreheads together. Castiel wonders how detrimental it would be - and how many rules, unspoken or otherwise, would be broken - if he just tilted his face up and kissed Dean. It seems so strange to think of kissing him so soon, but somehow it just feels… _right_. So, in a moment of blind indulgence, Castiel angles his head up and is surprised to find Dean tipping his chin down to meet him halfway. The kiss is chaste and short-lived, but it leaves Castiel’s mind reeling and his heart humming in his chest.

A high pitched “awwww” sounds from next to them and they both turn to see Charlie grinning, her eyes conveying her sincerity. Dean laughs and ducks his head, letting his forehead fall against Castiel’s shoulder. It feels oddly natural to let Dean laugh into his shirt, to let himself laugh along, to bat away Charlie’s little teasing punch.

“I told you so.” She says, still smiling at them, and Castiel has to admit that she is right.

Maybe he doesn’t hate Valentines day so much after all. That is, as long as he gets to spend it like this, with Dean’s head on his shoulder and a faint tingle on his lips where they were so recently pressed to Dean’s own. He quite likes _this_.


End file.
